What Do You Think About Wordpress Powered Forums

[Kane]

Wordpress offer a lot of plugins that will allow you to create forums easily. Based on my experience, I can say setting up a forum on wordpress is a lot easier than selling up a forum through forum management software like xenforo, MyBB, or even Invision Community. Wordpress forums are also easier to manage? If you want to run a blog and a forum on the same domain, I think Wordpress is the best platform.

Edited January 30 by Kane

[Maria]

Creating and managing forums through wordpress content management system is certainly easy, however, these forums look very bare bone. They lack the versatility of proper forum software. It would be better to use open source forum software like SMF, MyBB, or phpBB if you lkack funds to buy premium software but you should avoid wordpress if you want to build a versatile community

[V0RT3X]

Think about where the focus of your site lies. If you only need a small forum on the side, for example for customer support, WP plugins are ok.

[JoelR]

I agree with @V0RT3X that depends on what is the overall (and future) focus on your site. WordPress is strong on a CMS, site builder, and access to tons of applications.  

A forum is going to be dedicated to, well, a forum.  Even though some forum options like Invision Community do have options to expand into a full-blown community site, their strength will be forum discussions, membership permissions, gamification, etc.  

I do think most people tend to stick too close to their past options without exploring the full universe of what's out there.  You can start a community on multiple options - even Discord, Facebook Groups, Telegram, Substack Newsletters, or WordPress add-ons.  

[Kane]

Just like @JoelRsaid, we can create online communities through multiple options, and what option you should use depends on your goal. I also feel that Wordpress despite being a powerful CMS, the communities built on Wordpress through community plugins are not as powerful as the ones built on proper community software.

[Shortie]

I just recently started a new blog that I am working on building up and because of the niche of the blog, a forum works well with it too. 

I am using WordPress and have installed a forum plugin so that I have my blog and forum both on the same platform to make it easier. So far I am happy with it but we will see how that goes over time. 

If you are someone who likes things to be easy then WordPress and a forum plugin will work really well for you. 

[Maria]

17 hours ago, Shortie said:

I just recently started a new blog that I am working on building up and because of the niche of the blog, a forum works well with it too. 

I am using WordPress and have installed a forum plugin so that I have my blog and forum both on the same platform to make it easier. So far I am happy with it but we will see how that goes over time. 

If you are someone who likes things to be easy then WordPress and a forum plugin will work really well for you. 

If your emphasis is on the blog and forum is on the backseat, this strategy will be really great. In my experience, getting visitors on your blog is easier than getting users on your forums. By the way what wordpress plugin are you using for your forum?

[JoelR]

One takeaway that I think prospective community admins need to consider is whether or not they have an existing audience to tap into. And not just a general audience, but an audience that follows you as a person. 

Starting a blog first, building an audience, and then launching a forum is totally the right way.  Way too many (legacy) community admins jump too quickly into a forum. 

[Kane]

Starting a blog, building traffic through searches, social media and subscribers and then launching a forum, or starting a forum building users, activities and traffic, and then adding a blog both can be good option to tap into your existing audience. But the key is to first build audience on your existing blog or a forum.

[Dilip]

I have tried them. It is ok if you need a very small setup.

They are too lean and cannot be compared to mainstream forum software in many areas.

If you need a place to discuss something alongside your blog, by all means, try WordPress forum software. But if you are trying to replace, Xenforo or MyBB, you are looking at the wrong place.

[Nomad]

I created my first forum in 2027, it was a forum for my in-house writers on a multi author blogging sites. Since my blogging site was built on wordpress, I used wpforo plugin to create a forum on wordpress. The wordpress forum served my purpose. When I decided to create my first stand along forum, I again used worpress. It was good in the beginning, however, when the members and activities started growing, I felt that wordpress was not very good for running a forum.

[Kane]

On 2/10/2024 at 8:00 AM, Nomad said:

I created my first forum in 2027, it was a forum for my in-house writers on a multi author blogging sites. Since my blogging site was built on wordpress, I used wpforo plugin to create a forum on wordpress. The wordpress forum served my purpose. When I decided to create my first stand along forum, I again used worpress. It was good in the beginning, however, when the members and activities started growing, I felt that wordpress was not very good for running a forum.

Do you really mean 2027?

Perhaps you mean 2017, right?

It is understandable that wordpress powered forums do not work as good as the forums powered by proper forum management software, however, for managing small community wordpress forums can be great because these forums are easier to handle. If you want to combine forums with blogs, wordpress is the best option.

[Maxius]

If I had to run a WP+IPS combo I would make this signle sign on option on and unite both systems with the same log in information. Probably using IPS as a host and making WP accept the IPS login details.

[V0RT3X]

Why mix WP and IPS? If you already have IPS then use Pages. If your site is primary WP and you just need a forum, a full suite like Invision would be OP. There are better (and less expensive) ways.

[Dilip]

WordPress is unique in many ways. Especially if you are focusing on SEO.

[Nomad]

On 2/27/2024 at 1:13 PM, Dilip said:

WordPress is unique in many ways. Especially if you are focusing on SEO.

That's very true. If you want to run a blog and also a small community, WordPress powered forums can be a good option. For beginners, WordPress forum plugins allow to create community without additional effort or without having to pay money for forum software. Forum software can be overwhelming for beginners but WordPress forum plugins are easier to use.

[Destiny]

Setting up a forum through WordPress was the easiest forum I was able to install and set up. I was curious to see just how forums worked through WordPress. 

If someone is looking to set up a forum that is easy and not costly, a WordPress forum would be perfect for them.